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All four managed to get into their liferaft and were picked up shortly afterwards by a fellow fishing boat, the Boy River, before being transferred to the Dunmore East lifeboat.

The lifeboat crew, assisted by Fethard RNLI, attached a tow rope to the vessel and lifeboat volunteers got on board with pumps in an attempt to refloat the Coral Strand, but their efforts were not successful.

Emergency services were stood down a few hours later and it is expected the boat will break up over the coming days.

Coastguard services say the Coral Strand will not be salvaged and they expect some fuel and debris pollution in the next 48 hours.

The crew is safely in Dunmore East.

The operation was monitored by the search and rescue helicopter based at Waterford Airport.